A vehicle owner or prospective purchaser may not know whether a vehicle that is owned or being considered for purchase is subject to one or more recalls and thus in need of repair, or whether such a vehicle otherwise has associated safety information of interest to the owner or prospective purchaser, such as one or more safety ratings associated with the vehicle. In some cases, this information may be obtained through publicly available sources. For example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) maintains the web site <http://www.safercar.gov> through which information regarding recalls and other safety information may be obtained if a vehicle owner or prospective purchaser enters vehicle information through the web site. However, this technique for finding safety information not only requires the owner's or prospective purchaser's awareness of the web site and willingness to provide data through the web site in the first place, but more particularly requires the owner or prospective purchaser to enter specific data regarding the vehicle through the web site. Additionally, the need for an owner or prospective purchaser of a vehicle to be aware of an active recall pertaining to the vehicle is particularly important if the recall is for a safety defect.